Every year thousands of British West Indian workers are brought to the United States for a three to four-month period through the Immigration and Naturalization Service's H-2 program for the purpose of harvesting sugar cane in southern Florida. This research project uses standard social survey techniques to apply a questionnaire to a random sample of 500 seasonal H-2 workers during their stay in this country. One objective of the study is to provide a detailed descriptive profile of the sociodemographic and occupational characteristics of this labor force. The data collection and analysis also focuses on the characteristics of the household of which the worker is a part at his place of origin, and on the survival strategies that the household pursues for its maintenance and survival. By placing transnational migration into the context of the productive activities carried out by other members of the respondent's domestic unit, this conceptual framework permits an analysis of the effect of seasonal U. S. employment of the lives of the workers involved. This approach also provides the basis for investigating the articulation between the United States and Carribbean economies, and for carrying out a preliminary analysis of the impact of the H-2 program on the sending areas. The results of this study are relevant to the policy debate regarding the implications of expanding the H-2 temporary worker program as an alternative to illegal immigration.